Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Finished "The Judas Pair", by Jonathan Gash, the first book in the "Lovejoy" series. I enjoyed this very much indeed, although Lovejoy is not a very nice man at all (eg in the first couple of pages of the book he punches his girlfriend to the ground because she interrupts him while he's on the 'phone). In this book, Lovejoy (an antiques dealer, in base anyone is unfamiliar with the series) is commissioned to try to locate a pair of flintlock duelling pistols whose previous owner has died in mysterious circumstances.

There was a very popular TV series based on these books made by the BBC which ran for 6 series between 1986 and 1994, which I have fond memories of. This book very much captured the same atmosphere.

I look forward very much to reading further books in the series.

I enjoyed the BBC series a great deal, but found the books just too misogynistic to read. Really, Lovejoy is not at all a nice character, but in the TV series, Ian McShane manages to make him somewhat softer. And Dudley Sutton as Tinker is wonderful in it, with Phyllis Logan as Lady Jane always a pleasure.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Hunt for the Red Cardinal. Another in the Ring of Fire series, by a new author.

I also read Brother Cadfael's Penance. Another good outing for Brother Cadfael and, I discover, the last in the series. Not a bad ending.

I'm now also reading Honored Enemy, the next in publication order of Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Cycle. Bought back in October 2008!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I enjoyed the BBC series a great deal, but found the books just too misogynistic to read. Really, Lovejoy is not at all a nice character, but in the TV series, Ian McShane manages to make him somewhat softer. And Dudley Sutton as Tinker is wonderful in it, with Phyllis Logan as Lady Jane always a pleasure.

I have no requirement that the protagonist of a book be likeable!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have no requirement that the protagonist of a book be likeable!

But I do have a requirement that there be no egregious misogyny. It was just too nasty for me.

[haertig]

Personally, I don't care for unlikable people as the main character. But everybody has different tastes, and that is fine.

I've come to the point where I will stop reading a book that I am not enjoying, and start another. Same for piano music, if I'm not liking the baroque or early classical that I'm trying to learn, I'll abandon it and switch back to the romantic that I enjoy playing - Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Brahms, etc. Life is too short for me to continue on with something I'm not enjoying. Whether that's reading, working on a piano piece, or even watching a movie.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It’s not a book to read “standalone” - you need to have read at least the first few books of the Krondor series first.

Do try to read the first book, “Magician”. It’s a masterpiece and a classic of fantasy fiction.

Ah, thanks for that. I think we have Magician somewhere among the paperbacks.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I haven't read Faery Tale. I wouldn't recommend starting this series with Krondor: Tear of the Gods.

Start with Magican.

Faery Tale is stand alone and rather good. I sort of wish i had read it sequentially with Herbert's The Magic Cottage as both take a slightly remote setting and have 'things' happen out of nature to bend your mind.

[Dngrsone]

Finished listening to On Basilisk Station, now half an hour into a British radio drama, The Blackwater Bride. Not sure if I will continue with it.

[pdurrant]

I highly recommend Cabin Pressure. An excellent BBC Radio 27-part sitcom by John Finnemore.

Somehow I've managed to be reading three books simultaneously. Most unlike me.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Finished listening to On Basilisk Station, now half an hour into a British radio drama, The Blackwater Bride. Not sure if I will continue with it.

I couldn't do it. I listened to a little more than an hour and had to stop. Moving on to The Honor of the Queen, probably my most favorite of the series.

[poohbear_nc]

Just finished a re-read of a book I first read decades age: 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas - the excellent version created by HarryT and available in the MR Library.

It holds up well - despite the numerous interminable lists of creatures viewed through the port holes. During my first few reads as a youngster, I wore out the encyclopedia looking up all the locations and wildlife encountered by the Nautilus. Now I can instantly view the same online as I read.

[PurpleStar]

Just finished Stroke of Luck by B.J. Daniels. The usual type of harlequin cowboy romance. Easy reading.

Next is Star Trek: The Next Generation Available Light by Dayton Ward. Finally at long last! Long 2 year wait for this book with the long break from publishing Star Trek novels.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm now also reading Honored Enemy, the next in publication order of Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Cycle. Bought back in October 2008!

I've finished Honored Enemy. Rather good Mil-Fantasy.

Still reading The Hunt for the Red Cardinal and The Quantum Magician

[Apache]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I've finished Honored Enemy. Rather good Mil-Fantasy.

Still reading The Hunt for the Red Cardinal and The Quantum Magician

My favorite book by Raymond Feist.
Apache

[drjd]

At last I found the three missing books of Erle Stanely Gardner in my collection, at Amazon. The Case of the Turning Tide, The case of the Smoking Chimney both of Gramp Wiggins series, and The Knife Slipped - of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam series.

Just finished The case of the Smoking Chimney, which was wonderful. Now starting The Knife Slipped. Just can't wait for it.